(1) Field
This disclosure relates generally to garments, and, more particularly, to vests for increased safety.
(2) Related Technology
Traditional breakaway vests are known in the art. While they are commonly designed to increase visibility, they are primarily designed to breakaway from the wearer's body under tension or during a safety emergency. Such a feature is desirable, for example, for police officers or public transit workers who risk having portions of their clothing caught in or on vehicles. If these situations do occur, breakaway vests reduce the risk of workers being dragged by breaking away from the wearer's body under tension. Breakaway garments and vests are also desirable for machine workers, e.g., press operators, trash collectors, or wood chip operators, who risk having clothing caught in machinery. For these types of workers, becoming entangled with machinery may result in extreme bodily harm, if not death.
Some traditional breakaway vests are based on a pull-over design. For a variety of reasons, however, (e.g., bulky uniforms, excessive equipment and accessories, inflexibility) pull-over vests may not be easy or practical for all wearers to put on and take off. Because of this inconvenience, many who should be wearing a safety vest at all times do not. This oversight can lead to injury or loss of life.
To overcome the aforementioned problem, others open the vest at its safety fasteners, which are commonly hook and loop fasteners, e.g., VELCRO, in an attempt to ease donning the garment. This technique, however, is time consuming because it is difficult to properly align the various hook and loop portions of the garment. Because of these problems, many may not wear their breakaway vests at all times, or may not wear their vests properly, which may lead to injury or loss of life.
Thus what is needed is a breakaway garment that provides safety features of traditional garments, but that further reduces the risk of injury and loss of life by being easy and comfortable to put on properly, secure, and take off.